Joe Kelly’s I Kill Giants is far more transparent than the movie version, and I mean that in a good way. The movie liked to straddle the fence about what exactly was going on, whereas the book just puts it right out there–yes, giants are real, and yes, people can see them.

I also like that the protagonist, Barbara, is a little bit younger, a little bit more likable, a little bit more vulnerable, and a little bit more … rounded. The movie makes a mistake in that it keeps us guessing about Barbara, but in the book, Kelly tells us almost immediately about Barbara’s personal turmoil. We know why she fights, and we know what she’s fighting.

By being so direct, Kelly creates a book fraught with emotion. He makes Barbara so much more identifiable as well. I appreciate that Kelly didn’t play games–he simply delivered the story in the best way possible.

Jm Ken Niimura’s black and white art is not especially my style, but it most certainly served this story exceptionally well. His giants are unique, his action is kinetic, his panels are fluid, and his use of space is well-executed. I can absolutely understand why he’s regarded so highly.

If you had to choose between the book or the movie, I would definitely recommend the book. I’m glad Kelly and Niimura got the exposure they did due to the film, but this was a universally praised book even before the film adaptation arrived. I hope you’ll check it out!

(Did you enjoy this article? Check out Scott William Foley’s short stories HERE!)

The cover to this book really threw me off. I thought it was going to be some kind of a dark magic or horror book. And though it’s got elements of both, it’s not at all what I expected.

Black Hammer: Secret Origins is about a group of super heroes who have been transported to a small, rural community and cannot leave their immediate surroundings. Some of them are quite okay with this, some are ambivalent, and some are flat-out angry.

The six characters–by book’s end–captured my interest and prompted me to reserve the next installment at my local library, but I still can’t go so far as to say I “like” this book (even though I am clearly invested).

My primary issue is that the six characters are obvious riffs on popular DC and Marvel icons. Shazam, Martian Manhunter, Captain America, Adam Strange–they’ve all been cribbed. I found this kind of thing fascinating back in the mid-80s with Watchmen … I’m less entertained by it now.

Even so, the author, Jeff Lemire, excels at dialogue and character interaction, so I couldn’t help but be drawn in by this book.

Furthermore, the artwork is moody, dark, and eye-catching. I particularly appreciated the facial expressions throughout.

They aren’t trying to pretend that they aren’t copying other characters, by the way. There’s no deception taking place on their part. And by the book’s conclusion, the characters have taken on a personality of their own and found themselves in an interesting predicament. In fact, I have to hand it to Lemire in regards to character development. Even though these characters begin as facsimiles, they soon become dynamic and full of engaging complications. However, after almost four decades of reading comic books, none of these obstacles are unheard of.

It’s just, on a personal level, I feel like I’ve seen it all before. The characters’ powers, the angst, even the isolation. It’s all expertly-executed, but not especially fresh in my view. Perhaps the next volume will completely win me over. The good news is that I’m committed and want to keep reading this story.

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s latest book HERE!)

In Boxers, there’s a moment where the main character, Bao, sees a young girl close to his own age. He believes she looks like the devil. Later on in the book, when they are both much older, Bao (seemingly) kills this girl in the city of Peking because she will not renounce her Christianity.

Saints is the story of that girl, from the time she is eight up until the age of fifteen. She is simply called Four-Girl in the beginning by her family. She is unwanted, unappreciated, and largely neglected. It isn’t until she meets converts to Christianity that she begins to feel a sense of security. Eventually, Four-Girl converts as well and chooses the name Vibiana. However, throughout much of the book, and despite being visited frequently by Joan of Arc herself, Vibiana is not exactly the most devout of Christians. She likes the food. She likes the roof over her head. She likes being recognized as a human being and not a waste of space. It’s clear Jesus is not at the forefront of her mind.

When she hears of the Boxers headed to kill Christians, she is inspired to follow Joan of Arc’s lead and fight in the name of God. But really … she just wants to fight. After the life she’s endured, can you blame her?

She is eventually captured by Bao from Boxers, and at that moment you get to find out exactly what took place between them in that scene from the first book.

While Boxers is quite a bit longer, the ending of Saints struck me as far more poignant. Admittedly, this could be because I consider myself a Christian as well. Vibiana (Four-Girl) undergoes a tremendous change, one that I won’t spoil for you, but one that absolutely resonated.

As Boxers depicted Bao losing more and more of himself in his plight to save China, Saints offers a bittersweet story about Vibiana finding peace. That tranquility, however does not arrive as one would expect. Just the opposite.

A noted Christian himself, I appreciated that Gene Luen Yang did not get too heavy-handed with Saints. In fact, like with Boxers, he made a point to show the good and bad in everyone. The Boxers consider themselves freedom fighters striving to preserve their culture, yet the Christian converts consider them monsters. The Christians in the book believe themselves to be righteous, yet many of them are self-serving and overtly sinful. However, in the end, Yang reminds us what it is to be truly selfless. Some would say that’s being Christ-like. Others would say it’s simply being compassionate.

Though the artwork is simply rendered, this is a powerful story about history, people, motive, and belief.

The epilogue of the book, by the way, shook me to my core. Perfect.

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s latest book HERE!)

It made my day when I won this graphic novel by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko through Goodreads. I’d been hearing good things about it, and even though I’m not a huge Green Lantern fan, I thought the idea of reworking him within the Earth One concept could be a wonderfully entertaining experience.

Even though Green Lantern has been rooted in science fiction for the last sixty years or so, word on the street said this book would strip away all of the fantasy elements the character carries and make it a true work of science fiction.

If you’re unfamiliar with the character, Hal Jordan is a test pilot who was chosen to replace a deceased member of the Green Lantern Corps, which is an intergalactic police force. Each member wears a ring that will create hard light constructs of anything the wearer imagines. However, Green Lanterns must recharge their ring every twenty-four hours with a battery that looks quite a bit like a … well, lantern. That’s green. This corps has hundreds if not thousands of members, and you can imagine all of the betrayals, deaths, love connections, uprisings, reshuffling of power, and so on that has occurred during the last several decades.

In this version, they broke with tradition and made Hal Jordan a rejected astronaut who currently works as a space prospector. And … that’s about it. Though the circumstances are slightly different, he still happens across the ring. He eventually connects with other Green Lanterns. He organizes and leads them. This Jordan is more of an underdog, but I found the whole book very similar to what’s come before. Even his costume is pretty much the same.

In my opinion, they did not take it nearly far enough. They did not break away from his Silver Age roots in any meaningful way. That’s generally been my issue with all of the Earth One books, though. The idea is that these books would depict what these heroes would be like in today’s real world, and the answer is … pretty much the same.

I do want to commend Gabriel Hardman’s art, though. He’s got an expert sense of anatomy and perspective, and his backgrounds are exquisite. I also very much enjoyed Jordan Boyd’s colors. His use of green light surrounded by the darkness of space felt fresh. At times he seems to employ a dot matrix technique, which was also felt both nostalgic and original.

So while the book is well executed, I didn’t find it particularly inspired. It wan’t the innovative science fiction extravaganza that I expected.

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s short stories HERE!)

Max Landis absolutely put the “man” before the “super” in this collection, and Superman is all the more “super” as a result.

The premise is short and sweet: Landis depicts key moments in Clark Kent’s life that define the hero he will one day become. As a result, we get to see what is not often addressed: failure. We see Clark as a child fearful of his own abilities. We see Clark as a teenager reluctant to help out for fear of hurting someone. We see Clark take a walk on the wild side with booze, boats, and women. We see Clark get outsmarted and embarrassed by Lex Luthor. We see Clark, for the first time in his life, have to truly fight to survive.

I love this collection because Clark is so normal. He’s funny; he’s a jerk; he’s fearful; he’s clever; he’s heroic; he’s full of doubt. In a word, he’s all of us at some point in our lives.

Landis also addresses some nagging issues about Clark’s childhood such as how in the world did he avoid doctors? The answer may surprise you. Also, with the way kids talk, could he ever really keep his abilities a secret while in Smallville? That answer may surprise you as well.

Furthermore, Landis does not shy away from the fact that Clark Kent lives in the DC Universe. While this is not necessarily the mainstream Superman we enjoy from month to month, this world still offers us a glimpse at Oliver Queen, Batman, Dick Grayson, Hawkman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and many others. The brief appearance by Batman is especially relevant to this Superman’s mythology.

Each installment of this collection is a must-read in part because of the story line but also because Landis works with a different artist for each chapter. I want to say that each artist perfectly embodies the tone of that specific issue, but each of these artists are so talented that they make everything look good. You could assign any of them any of the installments and they would make it shine.

Next to All-Star Superman, this is my favorite Superman story ever. I would love to read more of Landis’ take on the DC Universe.

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s short stories HERE!)

The Wild Storm is a title that appears to be taking classic WildStorm characters, especially those from WildC.A.Ts, and rebooting them in a modern day, sophisticated world.

WildStorm was under the umbrella of Image Comics back in the 1990s when Jim Lee and other industry luminaries decided to start their own publishing house. Jim Lee’s characters were cool, but rather shallow and derivatives of DC and Marvel’s icons. Clearly, though, they had great potential as famed writers like Alan Moore and James Robinson took a crack at them.

In The Wild Storm, Warren Ellis, one of the absolute BEST science fiction writers alive today, takes the most charismatic elements of characters like Void, Voodoo, Grifter, Deathblow, Zealot, and Engineer and strips away all of the excess. All of these characters now exist within one book, one story line, and are under the control of one vision, who happens to be visionary.

I’m all in on this book. It is remarkably familiar yet utterly fresh. I know the characters, I know the names, but I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Ellis is always completely unpredictable and it’s obvious he’s building a comprehensive world in this title, not a super team.

Jon Davis-Hunt creates cinematic, dynamic panels in this book. Most of the characters are wearing regular clothes in normal environments, but he makes all of it look GREAT. He adds all of these little touches that strike the reader subconsciously but may not be obvious at first glance. Things like shells flying though the air, glass shattering, hair blowing in the wind, or debris falling — these minor things connote movement and lead the reader sequentially from one panel to the next. The art is so smooth and fluid. Perfect.

The Wild Storm is full of intrigue, action, violence, heroism, originality, and just enough nostalgia to charm. It’s obvious there is a sprawling, epic tale unfolding, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

I haven’t been this excited about a title in quite some time.

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s short stories HERE!)

I’m not totally on board with Tom King’s Batman. Tom King is a good writer, don’t misunderstand, but his take on Batman just isn’t really doing much for me.

In this volume, Bruce Wayne is in bed with Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. He is baring his soul regarding a horrific moment during his first year as Batman, a moment that occurred during The War of Jokes and Riddles.

First of all, that’s a really awkward name for a war. Maybe a little too literal as well. Don’t you think?

Anyway, Bruce is recounting his tale to Selina and we experience what is essentially a flashback. The Joker and the Riddler have declared war against each other, and all of the other villains in Gotham have chosen sides. There’s some perfunctory attempt at explaining why a band of murderous sociopaths would join forces, but it all fell a little flat with me. Eventually the story begins to focus on Kite Man. Yes. You read that right. That’s where it really lost its way with me.

I will admit that I appreciate King’s take on The Joker. Unfortunately, his Riddler seemed totally out of character in my mind. The whole story felt a little too contrived, a little too forced for my taste. It struck me as though they had a really cool idea to have Riddler and Joker wage war, but then couldn’t come up with anything any deeper than that concept.

Mikel Janin’s art, though, absolutely makes this volume worth reading. I believe his Joker is iconic, and his Batman is both regal and terrifying. I first discovered Janin on Justice League Dark, and his talent has only grown.

King’s moody, almost whiny Batman is not for me, but I appreciate the risks he’s taking and the new stories he’s trying to tell. His work is solid and well-executed, I just don’t care for his iteration of the character.

(His Mister Miracle, on the flip side, may be the best series that I’ve ever read.)

(Did you enjoy this review? Check out Scott William Foley’s short stories HERE!)